As a result of the OpenCable™ initiative, in the near future there may be millions of retail televisions and television set-top boxes (STB) which will only allow for decoding of MPEG 2 (Moving Pictures Expert Group) compliant content. The existence of such a large installed base of “legacy” devices will make it difficult for service providers to provide content in other formats, for example, for the purpose of using more bandwidth efficient codecs, since changes to the data format could in effect “orphan” the existing installed base. Moreover, any migration to a new format and technical advantages associated therewith may be foreclosed.